The GA’s members – the world’s major PR and communications professional associations and institutions – are exploring three critical roles for the profession:

the definition of organizational character and values;

the building of a culture of listening and engagement; and

the fulfillment of responsibility in all its dimensions – personal, professional, corporate and societal.

The Melbourne Mandate process began with a survey of Global Alliance members to identify the priority areas, followed by four months of online collaboration between practitioners and academics around the world. The Mandate builds on the Global Alliance’s 2010 Stockholm Accords, which defined the attributes of the ‘communicative organization’ and the value of PR in governance, management, sustainability and internal and external communication.

The Global Alliance is seeking public comments on the following questions:

Does the Melbourne Mandate capture the most critical emerging areas of value for public relations and communication management?

The Melbourne Mandate’s first section focuses principally on the role of public relations in organizations; the second focuses on our interaction with stakeholders; and the third focuses also on the responsibility to society. Is the balance right?

Can the Melbourne Mandate be applied in every culture, or are variations required? If so, which specific variations and why?

The Melbourne Mandate includes some high aspirations for public relations. How can we prepare ourselves – as professionals and as a profession – to live up to these aspirations?

As a professional, how could you actually use the Melbourne Mandate to advocate the role and value of public relations?

After the Melbourne Mandate is revised and debated by delegates to the World Public Relations Forum on November 19th and 20th, the GA aims for it to be a tool professionals around the world can use to advocate the role of public relations and communication in their organizations and communities.

“It’s clear that communication is changing the world, and transforming public expectations of organizations,” said Global Alliance chair Daniel Tisch. “Does public relations need a new mandate as a result? That’s a debate worth having – and it’s what the Global Alliance hopes to inspire with the Melbourne Mandate.”

Tisch expressed the Global Alliance’s appreciation to Jean Valin, the co-chair of the Melbourne Mandate dialogue, and to the co-chairs of the working groups: Anne Gregory and James Wright on “character,” Gregor Halff and Noel Turnbull on “listening,” and Catherine Arrow and Toni Muzi Falconi on “responsibility.”